Thursday, November 10, 2005

Where Is Charles Martel When You Need Him?

What is going on in France? Are these riots by Moslems part of the general uprising of Islam, that is, a form of Jihad, or are they merely socio-economic disturbances? There seems to be an argument about the causes and nature of what is occuring in the land of frog legs and chicken hearts, and we need to understand this in light of our current World War with radical Islam.

Christopher Orlet, writing in TAS Online, argues that these riots are not episodes of Jihad but are similar to the Watts riots of old; they are disturbances caused by deranged liberal social policy and feeble economic growth coupled with a non-integrative social system and lack of economic opportunity. He pointed out to me in an e-mail that he was convinced by articles by Theodore Dalrymple in City Journal that this was the case, and that Jihad is ancillary in this matter.

This view is at odds with any one of a number of writers who see this as a desire to establish the Caliphate. Static Noise, for example, pretty much sums up this view that Islamo-fascism is at the heart of such doings, and that France has become another battleground in the War. Who is right?

Personally, I tend toward the view held by Static. I`ve never believed that the riots during the `60`s and `70`s here in the States were caused by economics, but by liberal agitation (just as they were on college campuses-remember Kent State?) and left-wing social theory was more cause than effect (Mr. Orlet agrees with this assessment). I would like to point out that poverty and criminality may be congruent, but are hardly inextricably linked; some of the poorest areas have low crime rates. We have had poverty throughout the world throughout history; why riot now?

I think that former Vice President Dan Quayle`s ``poverty of values`` applies here, only this is a poverty of Western values. France has allowed an alien culture in it`s midst, and has allowed the values which make Western Civilization stable-the Rule of Law, Christian ethics, patriotism to ``King and Country``-to drown in a sea of ennui and nihilism. The French are unwilling to defend their way of life against the barbarians. They see such struggle as chauvinistic and pointless, and they have invited their enemies to settle in their cities on the theory that the disease won`t kill the host. They are wrong.

These riots are similar to riots we`ve seen in Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Palestine, albeit on a larger scale. (Someone on Christopher Orlet`s blog pointed out that such rioting is impossible in America thanks to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Fear of police brutality may also explain why young Moslems haven`t rioted more in their homelands.) They don`t resemble mere criminality, like the Watts riots and the Rodney King riot. (The Rodney King riot buttresses that gun theory; remember how Korean grocers were shooting it out with the thugs?) These riots go on night after night, and look more like what was going on in Russia in 1917.

As Tony Blankley points out;

``As Paul Belien, writing from Brussels this weekend observed: "It is not anger that is driving the insurgents to take it out on the secularized welfare states of Old Europe. It is hatred. Hatred caused not by injustice suffered, but stemming from a sense of superiority. The "youths" do not blame the French, they despise them."

Islam is very serious about establishing the Caliphate. They think that their time has come, and they believe Allah will bless their efforts; OF COURSE they are rioting! They see the West as weak and corrupt, and I can`t say that they are necessarily wrong. The great powers of Europe have lost their will.

France faces a serious problem because they have devoted their efforts to undermining the United States. The French government still sees itself as relevant, and they haven`t learned that this isn`t 19th century Europe. They have been playing games at their own expense while thinking they are sticking it to America. Why did these riots begin now? Because the Moslem community saw the French government had no intention of being firm in the War, and it became obvious that they could be bullied. Terrorist attacks worked in Spain, why wouldn`t an indigenous uprising of Moslems send the French scurrying under the sink, shouting ``Sacre Bleau`` and doing their best Marcel Marceau impressions?

This is also a cautionary tale about unrestricted immigration. France allowed a nation to settle in their midst without making those immigrants become French. They were just asking for it-there are few places on this Earth where two competing nations can co-exist in the same space. Look at the former Yugoslavia. What happened to the Ainu of Japan? How about Northern Ireland? Rwanda, Palestine? Why did Ferdinand kick out all non-Catholics from the new Spain? Multiculturalism, the concept that alien cultures can exist in the same space, has been disproven time and time again by history. Yet post-modern liberalism has triumphed in Europe, and France welcomed this alien culture with open arms. Now they are reaping what they have sewn. They really should have known better.

Will a Charles Martel rise to expel the saracen rebels? I wouldn`t hold my breath. Chirac let this situation smolder on and on; only recently did he declare a state of emergency (you think Jacques?). I suspect he was waiting for a U.N. resolution asking the rioters to stop. If that failed, Chirac was prepared to go back to the U.N. for another resolution, asking them nicely again. Truly, the man is a tower of strength!